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Trump Selects State Spokesperson Nauert as U.N. Ambassador, Per Report

President Donald Trump is expected to select State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as the successor to Nikki Haley as United Nations ambassador, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

Insiders familiar with the intricacies surrounding Haley’s vacating position told Bloomberg that Nauert, 48, would be a good public relations source at the U.N., but garnering respect on foreign policies might be a different game.

“Nauert is a very good public operator, and should do a professional job presenting U.S. policy at the U.N.,” Richard Gowan, a senior fellow at the United Nations University’s Center for Policy Research, said in the Bloomberg report. “It is less clear that she has the experience to hammer out hard deals with China and Russia over problems like Iran and North Korea.”

Nauert’s most recent background before joining the department was as a correspondent and anchor for Fox and Friends, a show and network cozy to the Trump White House and his presidential campaign beforehand.

But, as the Bloomberg report indicated, Haley lacked foreign expertise when she took her U.N. post after serving several years as governor of South Carolina.

Though Nauert reportedly had a shaky relationship with her old boss, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, she received an all-systems-go for the U.N. position from current Secretary Mike Pompeo. The report went to say that Nauert had solid allies in Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.

Before Nauert’s name rose to the top of Trump’s list, other prominent names surfaced: White House aide Dina Powell, ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft, former U.S. Senate candidate John James of Michigan and ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.

The Senate could poke holes in Nauert’s confirmation process, especially if she stands by Pompeo’s remarks about the U.N. last week.

“Pompeo’s Brussels speech trashing the U.N. this week lowered our expectations for U.S. policy at the U.N., whoever is ambassador,” Gowan said. “It looks probable that the U.S. will aim to marginalize the U.N. for the rest of Trump’s term, in contrast to the Haley era.”

A tough stance on North Korea remains one of the top agenda items for both the U.N. ambassador and the secretary of state. Whereas Haley said she would remain gruff against Kim Jong Un furthering any missile testing, it remains to be seen if Nauert would do the same.

There are also issues such as: Will Trump downgrade the U.N. ambassador position to a cabinet-level position that reports to Pompeo, and what will be her stance on defending Israel?

Still, the question lingers as to whether Nauert is qualified to sit down and negotiate or talk tough, or if she is more well versed in talking points.

“In the absence of any actual diplomatic experience, I suppose it’s reassuring to U.N. supporters that she will arrive with no particular personal agenda,” said Loren DeJonge Schulman, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. But noting Nauert’s background as a spokeswoman, she added, “It’s not a role for merely reading talking points.”

"The ice doesn’t care what this administration thinks. It’s just going to keep melting," David Titley, the director of the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk at Penn State, told Newsweek.